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Kopitar, Ersberg star as Kings blank Coyotes

Mar 28, 2008 - 6:21 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Anze Kopitar and the Los Angeles Kings dealt the Phoenix Coyotes' playoff hopes a crushing blow.

Kopitar had a goal and two assists and rookie goaltender Erik Ersberg stopped 38 shots as the Kings posted a 4-0 victory over the Coyotes on Thursday.

Defenseman Kevin Dallman, Dustin Brown and captain Rob Blake also scored for Los Angeles, which entered with a league-low 67 points.

Ersberg, who was spectacular while making 39 saves in a 2-1 shootout loss to Anaheim on Wednesday, stopped 11 shots in the first period, nine in the second and 17 in the third in this one to record his second shutout since being recalled from Manchester of the American Hockey League on February 21.

"I can't complain, it was a good night for me," Ersberg said. "They have to give everything they've got to make the playoffs, so they threw a lot of shots at me, but I think we played a great game defensively. I saw almost every shot and (the defense) was there on the rebounds, too, so they helped me out a lot."

"You have to give him credit," Phoenix captain Shane Doan said. "He played well last game, he played well tonight. He's a good goalie. You have to get a little bit more traffic in front of the net, but you have to give him credit."

Kopitar and Ersberg helped the Kings snap a six-game losing streak to the Coyotes.

"We realized what a great skating club Phoenix is," Los Angeles coach Marc Crawford said. "They have outskated us in the games they have won, and that's such a big factor in games. I think our awareness was really good tonight.

"We had to compensate for the fact that they have a fast team, and the way you do that is by making sure your positioning is correct and make sure your awareness is sharp."

Meanwhile, Phoenix (37-35-6) missed out on a chance to gain ground on idle Vancouver (38-29-10) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Coyotes are six points behind the Canucks but also must get past Edmonton and Nashville in the standings.

"It was just not a very good effort on our part," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "I know it's late in the season, and obviously the situation is tough for us, but you've still got to show up and play.

"One of the things we're proud of with our hockey club is that we work hard every day, in every practice. I'm disappointed because tonight wasn't a very good effort."

After a scoreless first period, the Kings tallied three times in the second to seize control.

"After the first period, we started making plays and controlled the puck well in the second period," Kopitar said. "When you have the puck, you make plays that lead to scoring chances, and we buried three in the second period, which was really important for us."

Kopitar set up Dallman's second goal of the season at 6:52 and had a hand in the other two tallies. The All-Star Slovenian doubled the lead with his 30th of the campaign at 9:14 by corralling a rebound on the left side of the crease and firing a backhander past goaltender Mikael Tellqvist.

Brown made it 3-0 with a similar goal on the power play as Michael Cammalleri's shot from the slot bounced off Tellqvist's blocker and straight onto his stick. He fired the puck into a wide-open net with 6:57 remaining for his 32nd goal of the season.

Blake capped the scoring as he tipped in a pass from Alexander Frolov at 11:54 of the third for his ninth tally.

"We came out and played a pretty good first period and then laid an egg in the second and third periods," Phoenix All-Star defenseman Ed Jovanovski said. "We hung our goalie out to dry, and that's unacceptable."

Tellqvist stopped 29 shots for Phoenix, which had won six of the previous seven meetings (6-0-1) with Los Angeles this season.

"We didn't have 18 forwards and defensemen show up tonight," Gretzky said. "There were five or six guys who showed up tonight and played their hearts out, and you're not going to be successful when that happens. You win as a team and you lose as a team, and we just didn't have everybody going tonight."